Any experience with Schoeps CMC 1 amp?

[stany]

This is my first post here. You guys have been a big help with assembling gear for making hobbyist chamber music recordings. I ended up getting a Rode TF-5 pair instead of Schoeps MK 4 after reading about them here and after hearing both, and just got a Latch Lake boom stand after reading Hugh's review (exceptionally solid).

I'd like to upgrade my Line Audio OM-1 pair now and am thinking Schoeps MK 2 this time. Does anyone have experience with the new CMC 1 amps? I like the idea of a smaller, less visible package. But unlike CMC 6 I cannot rent these locally first - would have to buy on faith.

Has anyone recorded with both? Virtually identical sonically?

[allebaug]

I use the CMC-1 L model, having a Schoeps lemo connector, currently with a MK8 capsule, paired with a full CMC-6 amp microphone setup for mid-side recordings. I intend to go for the CMC-1 mini amp, having XLR3, soon to replace the CMC-6 pairing to make a more compact boom pair. The CMC-1 amp is said to be the spec equivalent of the CMC-6.

Ambient makes a compact stereo harness having a Schoeps lemo and XLR3 combo to XLR5 to refit into a current Rycote Sennheiser-8000-ORTF fitted mount, so there is an expanded plan here. Ambient also makes a dual Schoeps lemo to XLR5 harness but the XLR3 CMC-1 has wider options for me.

[stany]

Thanks allebaug, looks to me like the electronics are the same between the L and U amps. I'll go track down what your harness and mounts look like, sounds neat. I just ordered a custom 4-channel snake with Mogami cable and Neutrik gold connectors so I can run a single cable to a 4 mic array on the Latch Lake boom.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I've not had the opportunity to use the new CMC-1 body yet, but I'm confident that Schoeps wouldn't put out an inferior body, and in comparing the tech specs the CMC-1 is actually better than the CMC-6 in several respects -- as you'd expect with the advance of technology.

Impressively, the new CMC-1 requires half the phantom power current compared to the old CMC6, and it has a greater maximum output level -- both being significant practical benefits.

The only other difference on the spec sheet that might bother some at first glance is that the the minimum working phantom voltage has been raised to 30V instead of 20V, but that is completely mitigated by the reduced current consumption.

[stany]

It's been not quite a year since I posted this topic; the exchange rate is so favorable that I finally picked up this CMC 1 MK 2 pair from KMR. Thanks for everyone's help. These sound great. I took so long doing this because since posting I'd picked up an active R88 in addition to the TF-5s, and that combination has been working really well for my use case (chamber music).

My next upgrade will likely be an 8 channel field recorder...using a Zoom F6 now which is so convenient I hate to switch back to a setup that requires AC power and a computer in the field. Any suggestions? (e.g. wishing the Grace m108 could take USB PD power; the F6 goes most of the day with wireless control on a small power brick.)

[Sam Spoons]

Sounds like the Zoom F8n Pro might fit the bill then, or a Sound Devices recorder if you have a bit more to spend (I keep trying to justify the F8 for the occasional live recordings I do but have, so far, managed to keep the credit card in the wallet).

[stany]

Thanks Sam - indeed I had been thinking about the MixPre-10, looks good on paper. But the 8 preamp version appears to not support USB power, unlike the smaller 3 and 4 preamp versions. (I've seen USB to Hirose adapters on ebay that I think will tell a PD power brick to source 12 volts, although I'd rather have something that the device supports.)